Pittsburgh equaled a historic mark by accepting 28 points in the first quarter of the loss to Cleveland
The Pittsburgh Steelers came out as big favorites to beat the Cleveland Browns in the American Wild Card Round Conference, however, the story on the field was very different from what was expected.
According to the “Football Power Index” from ESPN, Pittsburgh had a 67.9 percent chance of winning the game, while the sports cards had them as favorites with 6 points.
But the opposite happened with a The midfielder started after Maurkice Pouncey made a mistake at work and the ball went over defender Ben Roethlisberger, who couldn’t stop Karl Joseph from catching him diagonally. to score the first touchdown in 14 seconds of play.
In the next offensive series, Roethlisberger threw an interception – the first of four – to MJ Stewart Jr., and the Browns capitalized on the delivery with a touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to Jarvis Landry..
Before the end of the first quarter, with the Browns leading 21-0, Roethlisberger had the second delivery when Sheldrick Redwine stole a pass to Diontae Johnson, Cleveland’s response was a score scored by Kareem Hunt to go with 28 -0.
Roethlisberger’s third interception came with 10:11 remaining in the second quarter, while he was looking for Vance McDonald, but after a deflection, the ball ended up in the hands of Porter Gustin’s defense. In the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger was intercepted by Sione Takitaki to seal the loss. It is the first time in Roethlisberger’s career that he has thrown four interceptions in a playoff game..
Roethlisberger finished the game with 47 completions for 501 meters, becoming the leader in attempts to advance to a playoff game, surpassing Steve Young’s 65 passes and becoming the second defender in history to exceed 500 meters in a game. post-season, behind Tom Brady’s 505 yards against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
However, this collapse of the Steelers was just a confirmation of their terrible end to the season in which they lost five of their last six games after starting the season 11-0. After losing unexpectedly undefeated in Week 13 to Washington (23-17), PIttsburgh fell twice to the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and Browns, their only win in Week 16, 28-24, over the Indianapolis Colts.
The 28 points scored by Cleveland are the most in NFL history since the 1970 merger and matched those set by the Oakland Raiders, who scored 28 points against the Houston Oilers in the first quarter of their 56-7 victory. on May 21st. December 1969 in the AFL divisional round.
It is also the first time the Steelers have surpassed 28 points in a quarter of October 1971 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
For the Browns, it’s the first time they’ve forced four turnovers in a playoff game since the 1968 Divisional Round against the Dallas Cowboys, plus Kareem Hunt became Cleveland’s first player with two touchdown passes in a post-game. season of Earnest Byner in the 1985 divisional round against the Miami Dolphins.